Expect Jerry Jeudy, not Courtland Sutton, to lead Broncos in receiving
Sep 9, 2021, 6:30 AM
The Denver Broncos sport an embarrassment of riches at pass-catcher, including a pair of second-rounders and a pair of first-rounders. Those are significant investments for a team that has yet to figure out the long-term solution at the all-important quarterback position.
One of those second-rounders — Courtland Sutton — is returning from an ACL surgery suffered last year, and appears to be rounding into form. In 2019, Sutton’s last full season, he paced the Broncos receivers with 1,112 yards and six touchdowns, numbers that foretold stardom for the then 24-year-old wideout. Sutton, who is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the season, is looking for even bigger numbers from a Broncos offense that has improved in either depth, health or experience across the board. And with accurate veteran Teddy Bridgewater starting at quarterback, Sutton is expected to lead Denver’s charge from the wide receiver position once more.
Don’t count on it.
Last year’s first-rounder — Jerry Jeudy — had mixed results as a rookie. Even though the Broncos started three different quarterbacks (four, if you count wide receiver Kendall Hinton), Jeudy led the team in targets (113) and yards (856), while averaging a whopping 16.5 yards per catch. Unfortunately, Jeudy also struggled with drops and lapses in concentration, something he looks to fix this fall.
“For sure. I’ve been working hard this offseason just to have a great year this year,” Jeudy said in July as training camp began. “So I feel comfortable in all the hard work I put in this offseason; to be able to come this year and do what I do.”
Jeudy, a skilled route-runner and gifted athlete that Bridgewater calls “one of the best dancers in the league,” has preternatural elusiveness in the open field; in a heartbeat, the former Alabama product can shake one or two pursuers and turn an eight-yard slant into a 35-yard explosion.
“Jerry, he’s a guy who just knows how to get open,” Bridgewater said last week. “You watch him, he’s a guy who has a plan every snap. If a defensive back is playing him outside leverage, he’ll come up with a plan in order to win to get to where he needs to be in order to get the ball. If a guy is playing him inside leverage or tries to jump-jam him, he always has a plan. You love to see that in your wide receivers because now they know how to get open; they know how to create separation. If you’ve been following him throughout training camp and even throughout his early career, he’s been finding ways to get open — and he’s been having some success.”
Jeudy had notable and immediate rapport with Bridgewater, and the pair built upon that all offseason and throughout training camp while Sutton worked his way back onto the field. The second-year receiver looks far more comfortable and focused in his second season, in part due to Bridgewater’s tutelage.
“It’s all good. I’m looking forward to working with Teddy,” Jeudy said last week. “He tells you where he wants you to be and where he needs you to be. Having a guy like that — to know what he wants — it really helps you as a receiver to know where to be for him to get you the ball.”
Jeudy was the Broncos’ leading receiver last season, while Sutton recovered from his injury and subsequent surgery, and Bridgewater languished in Carolina with the Panthers. The confluence of events that has found all three men in the same place, however, isn’t likely to lead to the same results for the Broncos’ two best receivers.
Sutton may not even start the season as Bridgewater’s first option; they’ve only played together for a handful of snaps in a meaningless preseason game and their time together at practice has been limited. Instead, Bridgewater will likely look to Jeudy first in most cases; the second-year receiver is not only already on the same page with Denver’s new signal-caller, but he runs far more of the underneath routes that Bridgewater is apt to check down to with regularity this season. For his part, Bridgewater explained in his usual, team-first style why that won’t matter to a Broncos team that’s looking for their first winning season since 2016.
“They’re brothers, and that’s what you love to see,” the quarterback said. “It’s a group that pushes each other. So now, when Jerry is out there, Jerry is making a play, but there are 10 other guys who are doing their job, and there are three other guys on the route, or four other guys on the route who are helping Jerry get open.”
Given the plethora of pass receivers at his disposal, Bridgewater will have the option to spread the ball around, but Sutton and Jeudy are Nos. 1 and 1A as the season begins. At season’s end, don’t be surprised if that pecking order is altered — and not only by Sutton’s impending free agency.
Jeudy isn’t concerned with any of that, however. Not yet, at least.
“Right now, I’m just focusing on day by day and just bettering myself,” he said. “I’ll let you all come up with those types of accolades and stuff like that, but right now, I’m just focused on being the best player I can be and helping this team win.”
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Shawn Drotar (@sdrotar) is the on-air host of “Sandy and Shawn” weeknights from 9p-midnight on 104.3 The Fan.
